I was brought up a stones throw from Sipsmiths and I do love their gin. However this is complete rubbish if you ask me. My guess is they are saying this to make their mass produced sloe gin seem authentic. A) Fresh sloes will always be better than frozen - the freezing process can damage some of the...

I walked The Hogsmill River (small river, tributary of the Thames that flows from Ewell to Kingston) on Saturday. The whole route was heaving with sloes. There where also plenty of apple, plum, bramble and mushrooms. Really good foraging. I also saw 3 x kinsfishers!

I personally wouldn't worry about it. I've had a caterpillar in one of my bottles before. I figured the alchohol would have killed off anything bad on it. I even considered eating it ala tequila but couldn't bring myself to do it........

If I was you I'd go out on bike or walk along the river in Hanwell or get on the canal. You'll find lots of sloe bushes along there.
Horsenden Hill (in Perivale) has lots of sloes. Nice walk as well, though quite steep!
I used to live in Ealing so know the area. I wasn't a sloe gin maker then though!

Not me...I've just got back from there now. Lots still on the bushes. I also found a whole load on the road to the leisure centre. Only managed to get 1/2 kilo before the heavens opened... I'm going back on the weekend to get more. There's plenty all around the area, so if any ones needs them - Hurs...